My first Mining Rig: The Mistakes I’ve made, which you should avoid!

Today I will share my personal experience with my mining rig or mining machines, or even cryptocurrency mining machines, whichever way you want to refer to it. There are plenty of different names these machines commonly go by. And like everyone I was in a hurry not to miss out on my slice of the big pie of “easy money”, without prior experience or gaining enough information on this topic.

How did I get into Cryptocurrency mining?

It was a sunny, warm day. I was slaving away working at the office, doing all my SEO magic tricks, conjuring my best spells, praying to different Mayan Gods and mumbling some strange noises when my phone rang. It was my best friend Ibrahim. He was excited, like a bit more than the time when his wife said “yes” to his engagement proposal. On the other hand, I was intrigued about what could be so urgent that he could not wait to share it with me. I can remember that he said something along the lines of bitcoin and ethereum that we could mine with mining machines making lots of money and that we will have to start mining soon! Sounded like nonsense to me. Or, at least it was nonsense to me back then.

To put it in context this was 3 years ago when one bitcoin was like R9,060($650), and ethereum R84($6), can you imagine? However, today one bitcoin is worth R61,500 and an Ethereum trades for R1,678.Back to my story. So, Ibrahim called me and started explaining to me how he is going to invest in a mining rig and start mining cryptocurrency and buy a Ferrari. I had the question in my head: ”is this fishy?”. He was trying to convince me of the price differences. A week before his call ethereum price was R292($21), and on the call time R84($6). In other words, this is a great opportunity, and I jumped right into the offer of partnering up to mine our own. Ready, set, go!

My first mining rig

Let me tell you about my first mining rig which was like all first loves quick, painful and complicated. Moreover, I hope I don’t bore you to death with all the info, but hey, I want to share my experience with you. Okay, my first mining rig. I was a total noob(newbie). I just said to Ibrahim, ”Hey man, help me to build up my rig and let’s do it together”.We spent 3 days building the hardware and configuring software. It is not that easy to make proper case structure for the mining rig, plug-in all cables, install the OS, install mining software, overclocking software, BIOS tweaks etc., run the machine and then pray everything will be okay. Murphy’s law, there will always be something that will not run properly…Here is the list of all of the hardware I had back then (remember that was 3 years ago). More information about Mining <—!

CPU G3930

ASUS Prime H270

Sapphire RX470 – 8GB

SDD ADATA 120GB

RAN 4GB DDR4 Kingston

Aurum PRO 1200W

My first Mining Rig

How was mining like back then – and reasons therefore

My first love was Ethereum. It was a kicking coin. New, with a bright future. It was easy to mine. In 2015 I was mining like 33 Ethereums per month. Can you imagine that? Also, the price was R84($6). So, it wasn’t that profitable. Ethereum mining lasted like a year maybe. Then I bought my second mining rig, but more about it some other time. I’ve changed to ZCash mining. The reason for that movement was because ZCash mining was “easier” for the mining rig and therefore more profitable. I can’t really recall the prices, but the more important part is I was making more money! Lol!After a while, I returned to mine Ethereum and went back and forth between these two for a while… If you ask me why I haven’t mined bitcoins it’s because my mining rig was with GPUs, and for bitcoin mining the mining rig structure is different. With GPU mining rig the efficiency is too low for bitcoin mining.

Mining software and mining pools.

If you are just a little bit into crypto mining, I am pretty sure you’ve heard about Claymore. Many say that this is the best mining software. It is (at least my opinion) indeed the best mining software when you are using it for GPU mining rigs. It’s very easy to set up, connect your mining rig with Claymore and then with mining pool.N.B.! Be very careful which cryptocurrency exchange you are going to use to deposit your mined cryptocurrency. Most of these exchanges have a commission and they are taking a small part of your mined coin when your rig is “depositing” them automatically to the exchange. I would suggest iCE3X because it’s with 0% fee for deposits! Now, you have your coin in its whole form in your pocket! Do not forget to transfer it to your hardware wallet if you are not going to exchange it!!!You don’t have one? Take part of monthly cryptocurrency hardware wallet giveaway and you’ll have a chance to get one for FREE!About mining pools, there are plenty. I was using mostly nanopool, but also ethermine. It depends, nowadays I haven’t done enough research to give you a proper answer. Remember: those pools have fees. So, check out which best suits your pocket!

Which exchange I’ve used to trade on and why?

To be honest my knowledge about cryptocurrency exchanges were on the same level as with mining rigs I just started from scratch and read up on crypto exchanges on forums and channels, following on social media and engaging with other traders and miners on these sites to get the general feel and opinion on best exchange currently available. And it’s not a joke the most impressive Exchange was iCE3X. Just a few things that really grabbed me:

They are very secure and it’s really hard to be scammed;

Very fast in transactions;

Also very fast in the ticket system. I get the answer always in time;

No deposit fees;

Trading features are top notch. There is always an ongoing update with something new that would help you to make money, and also protect you from losing lots of money!

So far the only crypto exchange that preaches to keep my coins in my own wallet, as this is the only way to say that I own my own cryptos. I love that! Basically economical, efficient, reliable and secure all the attributes a trader or miner will be looking for in an Exchange. I am currently off from the mining, and mining rigs, but I continue using iCE3X services to trade my cryptos!

The mistake I did

3 years ago in 2015 when I bought my first mining rig I spent like R62729($4500). Back then the price of Ethereum was R84($6). A little bit calculus for you.

If I had bought Ethereum with that money, back then I would have 750 ETH today.

With today’s prices, this is R2 456 912($176 250). Sure, I would most probably not have held onto them that long and I am pretty sure I would have sold them right after the price went up more than R200, but hey, it’s good to dream, right?I would suggest investing in crypto rather than to buy mining rigs. Currently, the prices are low and many crypto gurus are speaking about how the prices will kick in again. So, don’t make the same mistake I did the first time around, but rather go to iCE3X and spent some money on crypto and wait for prices to go up. Now, keep in mind, this is an investment, which means that there is always a chance to lose that money. So, if you are into cryptocurrency, invest money that you are willing and able to lose! Don’t forget also that mining rig is also an investment!Speaking about all of this, I am sure you would be interested in reading about bitcoin wealth creation mechanism article!

Conclusion

Yes, I’ve lost (spent) money and time on mining rigs, but I also learned a lot and gained experience. I’ve learned about cryptocurrency, the mining process which includes blockchain etc. Mining cryptocurrency helped me to have a small number of coins to operate with, which was a cornerstone. If I had like 750 Eth back in the days I would probably lose all of the money I’ve invested.Now, with that experience I have, I would invest in cryptocurrency, not in a rig. I hope with that story of mine I am helping you, to make the right decision for you! But, keep in mind, this is my story, those were my situations.. All steps and decisions you make are your responsibility. Be accountable for them!If you have any question, hit me on the comments, and I will try and assist you to the best of my abilities!

Disclaimer Notice:

This article is intended to educate and should in no way be seen as investment advice or an enticement to use the ice3x.com platform. Bitcoin is highly volatile with big profit opportunities but you should also remember that you could lose part or all of your investment whenever you take part in any high risk investment. Bitcoin trading is not a regulated industry in South Africa, which in itself carries additional risks. IF YOU ARE NOT AN ASTUTE BITCOIN TRADER, SEEK INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVICE BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENTS.